Steel floor construction.



2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907.

J A EMERSON STEEL FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 17,1906.

No.846,291. PATENTED MAR.5,1907.

I J. A. EMERSON.

'STEBL FLOOR CONSTRUCTION. -APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 17,1906.

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W l 2" ill 7 "1. I l "L I" w i "umumnw W Hm m mxfi mum JAMES A. EMERSON, OF OXFORD, INDIANA.

STEEL FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 5, 1907.

Application filed March 17,1906. Serial No. 306.679.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. EMERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at ()X- ford, in the county of Benton, State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steel Floor Constructions; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to bridges, and particularly to the construction of the roadway and footwalks thereof.

It has for its object to improve the construction of bridges, whereby the jar upon one part of the bridge due to heavy traffic or other causes will not be communicated to the whole framework.

It is a further object to provide a road-bed having greater rigidity with the same amount of material than is possible in bridges of this character as at present constructed.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a top plan view of two sections of a bridge constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a Side elevation showing the bridge-girders and floor-beams. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section in the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transverse detail section.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 indicates the bridge-girders, which usually rest on piers of iron or masonry. Floor I-beams 2, which extend from girder to girder, are preferably arranged in a series of about six beams each and may be placed either at right anples to the girders 1 or obliquely. The beams 2 are spaced apart by solid blocks 3 of the same height as the I-beams and the sides of the blocks being adapted to fit snugly between two adjacent beams. Through registering apertures 4 in the I-beams and spacing-blocks is passed a binding-rod 5, headed at one end and threaded at the other for the reception of a nut 6. These binding-rods hold each series of I-beams firml against the spacing-blocks, giving to the Whole the rigidity of a Solid section. Each section is held in place on the girders by bolts 7 passing through the upper flanges of the girders 1 and the lower flanges of the beams 2.

It will be noted that the only connection between the several sections is through the girders on which they rest and the concrete or other filling which it is customary to use. Any vibration or jar of one section is thus prevented from passing to the adjacent section-an advantage not to be obtained if the sections were more closely united.

The manner of constructing a road-bed in accordance with this invention is as follows: The I-beams 2 are placed in position on the girders with the spacing-blocks 3 between them, the apertures in each registering with the others. The binding-rods 5 are then passed through the registering apertures, and by means of a wrench or similar tool the nuts 6 are caused to bind the beams and spacingblocks firmly together. The lower flanges of the beams are then made fast to the girders by bolts 7 or other Suitable means, after which a filling of concrete or asphalt is used in the same manner as in the ordinary construction, the filling occupying the space between the I-beams and rolled or otherwise treated to render it hard and substantially homogeneous, the top finished surface of the filling being above the plane of the upper surface of the frame and flush with the lower surfaces of the base-flanges of theI-beams.

While this invention has been described in connection with a bridge road-bed, it will be readily seen that it may be advantageously used in the construction of large buildings and tunnel-work.

What is claimed is A roadway construction for bridges comprising, in combination with floor-supporting girders, a plurality of independent sections secured to the girders each formed of a series of beams provided with top and bottom flanges, solid spacing-blocks between said beams, and binding-rods passing through said blocks and beams, the framework of each Section being distinct from that of the adj acent sections.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES A. EMERSON.

I/Vitnesses: I

W. J. McCoNNELL, Lou D. MoCoNNELL. 

